Multimedia

Narratives

Site Information

Encyclopedia - Creeping Barrage

Although considered as a battlefield
tactic as early as 1915 (and initially deployed by Bulgarian artillerists
during the Adrianople siege of March 1913) the so-called 'creeping barrage' was not actually
deployed until August 1916 by the British (Sir
Henry Horne) during the
Battle of the
Somme on the Western Front.

Sponsored Links

Until this point artillery barrages
preceded infantry attacks for periods ranging from hours to days. Once
the infantry attack began in earnest supporting artillery would typically be
promptly switched against pre-determined secondary targets.

A creeping barrage however was designed so
as to place a curtain of artillery fire just ahead of advancing infantry, a
barrage which would constantly shift - or creep - forward directly ahead of
attacking troops. The innovation was successful, although chiefly
against sharply defined and localised targets. Subsequently the
combined use of artillery, infantry, tanks and aircraft would greatly assist
the efficacy of larger-scale breakthrough attacks.

French Commander-in-Chief
Robert Nivelle
placed over-reliance upon the merits of the creeping barrage as a primary
form of attack during his disastrous
Second Battle
of the Aisne in April 1917, the failure of which led to widespread
mutiny in the French Army.

Such a method of artillery fire
necessarily required very careful planning by both artillery and infantry
commanders, particularly with regard to timing if an army's own troops were
not to be caught (or held back) by their own artillery barrage. As a
rough rule of thumb a creeping barrage would progress at the rate of
approximately 50 metres per minute once an attack began.

Variations upon the creeping barrage
included the so-called 'fire waltz' whereby a hail of artillery fire would
ravage a position and move onwards, only to then reverse course in order to
catch defensive forces rushing to the devastated line.

Sponsored Links

Saturday, 22 August, 2009Michael Duffy

A howitzer is any short cannon that delivers its shells in a high trajectory. The word is derived from an old German word for "catapult".